Economists are having a hard time finding faults in the “near perfect” job report release on Friday, August 4th, 2017. Most economists estimated 180,000 new jobs and just 0.1% wage gains. It was extremely encouraging to all when the latest job report stated that U.S employers added 209,000 new jobs in July, continuing a long trend of substantial job growth.

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Unemployment fell to 4.3% to 4.4%, the 4.3% unemployment is a 16 year low. Hourly wages also saw an increase of 0.3% month-over-month to $26.36 an hour. Average hourly earnings growth in the past year remained steady at 2.5%.  
With steady job growth and layoffs being at its lowest since the Vietnam War, the economy appears to be running at all cylinders. 

According to Jed Kolko, chief economist at Indeed, a labor-market research firm. “The recovery is now strong and long enough to lift many of the people hurt most by the recession…” 

However, despite the rosy job report, economists would like to see wages to be in the 3% to 4% increases a year when an economy was is running at full throttle. But a slew of factors appear to be holding wages down, including low productivity, global competition and a reluctance among many Americans to switch jobs in the shadow of the recession in 08.

It is also expected that a robust labor market will keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise U.S. interest rates again before year end. The central bank is already planning to wind down a multi-trillion dollar bond-buying spree put in place a decade ago to help boost the economy.